Our sister publication ClieNT Server News reports that Microsoft Corp has pushed Nashville, its next-generation browser, into the first quarter of next year, a move that gives Netscape Communications Corp a chance to regain the lead it appears to be losing in the browser wars. Nashville, the code name for the Explorer 4.0 project, which will replace the GUI in Windows NT/95 with a browser, was promised before the end of this year. It looked to be on schedule a month ago when Redmond was confident enough to send what was described as a late alpha to 500 testers. It’s believed bug reports may be behind the delay. Although Explorer 3.0 has put Microsoft abreast – if not ahead – of Navigator technically, Redmond is still smarting from criticism that it rushed 3.0 to market just to beat Netscape despite the fact that some of Explorer’s pieces weren’t finished and it knew a slew of bugs still had to be fixed. Such a situation might be tolerated in Explorer 3.0 which is, after all, a free piece of code but Nashville is destined to be an integral part of Microsoft’s real business, its NT and Win95 operating systems, so it can ill afford a buggy product. Meanwhile, Netscape swore last week that Galileo, its heavily collaborative Navigator 4.0 program, would be finished by year end – according to server marketing VP Srivats Sampath – or January at the latest – according to Navigator product manager Dan Klausse – timing that gives it a shot at beating Redmond out of the gate.
